The profile of Lucy’s mother (Symbol)
Lucy's father is passionate about his wife, and he makes sure that he remembers her when looking at the Italian locket carried by Lucy. Lucy's mother's profile symbolizes memories and good moments because the picture was taken during the honeymoon. The author writes, “Lucy must take an oracle locket, within which rested a silhouetted, cut-paper profile of her mother, purchased in Florence during her honeymoon.” Lucy's father reminded her that the image is precious, and she must always keep it.
A gold watch (Symbol)
The gold watch emblematically represents the talisman of family pride. The author writes, "Thomas must always look after his little sister, and he must take possession of a gold watch, once owned by his grandfather, and keep it tucked against his chest like a talisman of family pride."
The mirror
The mirror symbolically represents the disintegration of life due to unavoidable circumstances. The man who fell from a tree while holding a mirror reflects how unfair life is. The author writes, "Because he could not release the mirror, but clutched at it as though it was a magic carpet; he landed amid its utter shattering speared through the chest." The quantity of blood was astounding. Lucy realizes that she has to hold dear the memories of her mother despite the unfair treatment of life.
The dead grass
The dead grass symbolizes the somber mood at Lucy’s homestead. Immediately Lucy received the news that her mother had just passed away; she tried to distract herself from the information. She noted that dead grass was everywhere, which epitomized the somber mood in the family. The author writes, "So Lucy was left to wander alone in the parched garden where she plucked at dried flower-heads and crumbled them between her fingers, and watched dusty light shift and fluctuate across the dead grass.”
The community of the accident
The horrific death of the man who fell from a tree emblems Lucy's a bad memory. She waked up in the middle of the night and realized that she had been dreaming about the man who faced a horrific death. Lucy referred to this as a community of accident to narrate how people got involved when they tried to rescue the man, who unfortunately died. The author writes, “She saw the elements only now: the shade of the tamarind tree into which he fell, the lifting of startled crows in a flapping explosion, a woman who stood with her blue sari spattered bright red, the children who hurried forward to gather fragments of mirror, Bashanti, her servant, weeping into her dupatta. The community of the accident. The gory congregation.”
